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| October 25, 2002 | Friday | Sha’aban 18,1423 |
Saleh routs Sultan for fourth Victory
CAIRO, Oct 24: Pakistan’s Saleh Muhammad whipped Sultan Sami Al Emran Of Saudi Arabia in four straight frames to enhance his chances for a place in the last 32 stage of World Snooker Championship Wednesday.
Saleh, who finished third in the world contest in China in 1998 took just 55 minutes while scoring 61-25, 117-02, 109-13, 61-46.
This was Saleh’s fourth win five games and needed alteast three more victories to get a berth in the knock-out stage of the event.
Saleh, had a chance making a break of 138 in the second frames but contended with break of 38 and 79 and added 87 in third frame and made an excellent clearance of 60 in the deciding frame.
The nerve wracking match between Khurram Agha and Lim Chun Kiat of Singapore was postponed due to time restriction. Khurram was leading the match 3-2 after three hours tussle.
The remaining two frames of the match will be played later in the night after the final session. ` Earlier late Tuesday night seventh seed Khurram Hussain Agha suffered a shock defeat going down 4-3 against southpaw Nico Devlies of Belgium after enjoying a commanding 3-1 lead.
The match was stopped after Devlies came from 1-3 down to draw level 3-3.
According to tournament rules if a match failed to end 40 minutes before next session it has to be played late in the night after the final session.
Khurram, however put up a disappointing show. After having taken almost a match winning lead he allowed Devlies to bounce back into the match to draw level and go on to win the match by winning the deciding frame and the match. The Belgian won 6-64, 72-49, 49-61, 16-79, 61-06, 74-27, 58-14.
Khurram had made a confident start with cracking a break of 64 in the opening but later he was unable to maintain the tempo till the end.
Top seed Richard King of England was given a scare by Egypt’s Maged Shafik before carving out a stunning 4-3 victory despite a break of 117 from the local hero.
Maged got off to a sound start by forging a 3-1 lead but Englishman Richard King grabbed the next three frames to chalk out fifth successive win in group “B”.
Richard won 38-67, 4-58, 65-28, 0-117, 35-70, 66-23, 65-2 with a neatly compiled break of 61 in the final frame .
It was another great day for local cueists as Wael Talaat of Egypt smashed the highest break of 138 in third frame in 4-0 win over Ibn Adel Bin Talal of Morocco, eclipsing his 130 break which he made two days ago.
In the morning session match Muhammad Elhamy cleared the table with a break of 130 to equal compatriot Talaat’s made two days ago while giving 4-0 thrashing to Joossup Yousuf of Mauritius.
On Tuesday China’s Pang Wei Guo constructed his second century break of the week, making 112 during a blitz of Egypt’s Muhammad Elhamy 4-0. Pang also made the breaks of 67 and 94.—APP
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